How to create a collaborative to-do list with React, Redux, and Liveblocks

In this 15-minute tutorial, we’ll be building a collaborative to-do list using React, Redux, and Liveblocks. As users edit the list, changes will be automatically synced and persisted, allowing for a list that updates in realtime across clients. Users will also be able to see who else is currently online, and when another user is typing.

This guide assumes that you’re already familiar with React and Redux. If you’re not using Redux, we recommend reading one of our dedicated to-do list tutorials:

The source code for this guide is available on github.

Install Liveblocks into your project

Install Liveblocks packages

First, we need to create a new app with create-react-app:

Terminal

npx create-react-app redux-todo-app

Then run the following command to install the Liveblocks packages and Redux:

Terminal

npm install redux react-redux @reduxjs/toolkit @liveblocks/client @liveblocks/redux

@liveblocks/client lets you interact with Liveblocks servers. @liveblocks/redux contains a Liveblocks enhancer for a redux store.

Connect to Liveblocks servers

In order to use Liveblocks, we’ll need to sign up and get an API key. Create an account, then navigate to the dashboard to find your public key (it starts with pk_).

Public vs secret key

With a secret key, you can control who can access the room. it’s more secure but you need your own back-end endpoint. For this tutorial, we’ll go with a public key. For more info, see the authentication guide.

Create a new file src/store.js and initialize the Liveblocks client with your public API key. Then add our enhancer to your store configuration.

src/store.js

import { createClient } from "@liveblocks/client";import { liveblocksEnhancer } from "@liveblocks/redux";import { configureStore, createSlice } from "@reduxjs/toolkit";
const client = createClient({  publicApiKey: "",});
const initialState = {};
const slice = createSlice({  name: "state",  initialState,  reducers: {    /* logic will be added here */  },});
export function makeStore() {  return configureStore({    reducer: slice.reducer,    enhancers: (getDefaultEnhancers) =>      getDefaultEnhancers().concat(liveblocksEnhancer({ client })),  });}
const store = makeStore();
export default store;

We need to edit src/index.js to add the react-redux provider:

src/index.js

import React from "react";import ReactDOM from "react-dom";import "./index.css";import App from "./App";
import { Provider } from "react-redux";import store from "./store";
ReactDOM.render(  <React.StrictMode>    <Provider store={store}>      <App />    </Provider>  </React.StrictMode>,  document.getElementById("root"));

Connect to a Liveblocks room

Liveblocks uses the concept of rooms, separate virtual spaces where people can collaborate. To create a multiplayer experience, multiple users must be connected to the same room.

We are going to dispatch the actions provided by @liveblocks/redux to enter and leave the room.

In our main component, we want to connect to the Liveblocks room when the component does mount, and leave the room when it unmounts.

src/App.js

import React, { useEffect } from "react";import { useDispatch } from "react-redux";import { actions } from "@liveblocks/redux";
import "./App.css";
export default function App() {  const dispatch = useDispatch();
  useEffect(() => {    dispatch(actions.enterRoom("redux-demo-room"));
    return () => {      dispatch(actions.leaveRoom("redux-demo-room"));    };  }, [dispatch]);
  return <div className="container">To-do list app</div>;}

Show who’s currently in the room

Need help troubleshooting presence?

Try the Liveblocks DevTools extension to inspect and debug your collaborative experiences as you build them, in realtime.

Now that Liveblocks is set up, we can start updating our code to display how many users are currently online.

We’ll be doing this by using the injected object liveblocks.others to show who’s currently inside the room.

src/App.js

import React, { useEffect } from "react";import { useDispatch, useSelector } from "react-redux";import { actions } from "@liveblocks/redux";
import "./App.css";
function WhoIsHere() {  const othersUsersCount = useSelector(    (state) => state.liveblocks.others.length  );
  return (    <div className="who_is_here">      There are {othersUsersCount} other users online    </div>  );}
export default function App() {  const dispatch = useDispatch();
  useEffect(() => {    dispatch(actions.enterRoom("redux-demo-room"));
    return () => {      dispatch(actions.leaveRoom("redux-demo-room"));    };  }, [dispatch]);
  return (    <div className="container">      <WhoIsHere />    </div>  );}

For a tidier look, here's some styling to place within src/App.css.

Show if someone is typing

Next, we'll add some code to show a message when another user is typing.

Any online user could start typing, and we need to keep track of this, so it's best if each user holds their own isTyping property.

Luckily, Liveblocks uses the concept of presence to handle these temporary states. A user's presence can be used to represent the position of a cursor on screen, the selected shape in a design tool, or in this case, if they're currently typing or not.

We want to add some data to our redux store, draft will contain the value of the input. isTyping will be set when the user is writing a draft.

The enhancer option presenceMapping: { isTyping: true } means that we want to automatically sync the part of the state named isTyping to Liveblocks presence.

src/store.js

import { createClient } from "@liveblocks/client";import { liveblocksEnhancer } from "@liveblocks/redux";import { configureStore, createSlice } from "@reduxjs/toolkit";
const client = createClient({  publicApiKey: "",});
const initialState = {  draft: "",  isTyping: false,};
const slice = createSlice({  name: "state",  initialState,  reducers: {    setDraft: (state, action) => {      state.isTyping = action.payload === "" ? false : true;      state.draft = action.payload;    },  },});
export const { setDraft } = slice.actions;
export function makeStore() {  return configureStore({    reducer: slice.reducer,    enhancers: (getDefaultEnhancers) =>      getDefaultEnhancers().concat(        liveblocksEnhancer({          client,          presenceMapping: { isTyping: true },        })      ),  });}
const store = makeStore();
export default store;

Now that we set the isTyping state when necessary, let's create a new component called SomeoneIsTyping to display a message when at least one other user has isTyping equals to true.

src/App.js

import React, { useEffect } from "react";import { useDispatch, useSelector } from "react-redux";import { actions } from "@liveblocks/redux";
import { setDraft } from "./store";
import "./App.css";
/* WhoIsHere */
function SomeoneIsTyping() {  const someoneIsTyping = useSelector((state) =>    state.liveblocks.others.some((user) => user.presence?.isTyping)  );
  return someoneIsTyping ? (    <div className="someone_is_typing">Someone is typing</div>  ) : null;}
export default function App() {  const draft = useSelector((state) => state.draft);  const dispatch = useDispatch();
  useEffect(() => {    dispatch(actions.enterRoom("redux-demo-room"));
    return () => {      dispatch(actions.leaveRoom("redux-demo-room"));    };  }, [dispatch]);
  return (    <div className="container">      <WhoIsHere />      <input        className="input"        type="text"        placeholder="What needs to be done?"        value={draft}        onChange={(e) => dispatch(setDraft(e.target.value))}      ></input>      <SomeoneIsTyping />    </div>  );}

Sync and persist to-dos

Need help troubleshooting storage?

Try the Liveblocks DevTools extension to inspect and debug your collaborative experiences as you build them, in realtime.

To-do list items will be stored even after all users disconnect, so we won't be using presence to store these values. For this, we need something new.

Add an array of todos to your redux store, and tell the enhancer to sync and persist them with Liveblocks.

To achieve that, we are going to use the enhancer option storageMapping: { todos: true }. It means that the part of the state named todos will be synced with Liveblocks Storage.

src/store.js

import { createClient } from "@liveblocks/client";import { liveblocksEnhancer } from "@liveblocks/redux";import { configureStore, createSlice } from "@reduxjs/toolkit";
const client = createClient({  publicApiKey: "",});
const initialState = {  todos: [],  draft: "",  isTyping: false,};
const slice = createSlice({  name: "state",  initialState,  reducers: {    setDraft: (state, action) => {      state.isTyping = action.payload === "" ? false : true;      state.draft = action.payload;    },    addTodo: (state) => {      state.isTyping = false;      state.todos.push({ text: state.draft });      state.draft = "";    },    deleteTodo: (state, action) => {      state.todos.splice(action.payload, 1);    },  },});
export const { setDraft, addTodo, deleteTodo } = slice.actions;
export function makeStore() {  return configureStore({    reducer: slice.reducer,    enhancers: (getDefaultEnhancers) =>      getDefaultEnhancers().concat(        liveblocksEnhancer({          client,          storageMapping: { todos: true },          presenceMapping: { isTyping: true },        })      ),  });}
const store = makeStore();
export default store;

We can display the list of todos and use the actions addTodo and deleteTodo to update our list:

src/App.js

import React, { useEffect } from "react";import { useDispatch, useSelector } from "react-redux";import { actions } from "@liveblocks/redux";
import { setDraft, addTodo, deleteTodo } from "./store";
import "./App.css";
/* WhoIsHere *//* SomeoneIsTyping */
export default function App() {  const todos = useSelector((state) => state.todos);  const draft = useSelector((state) => state.draft);  const dispatch = useDispatch();
  useEffect(() => {    dispatch(actions.enterRoom("redux-demo-room"));
    return () => {      dispatch(actions.leaveRoom("redux-demo-room"));    };  }, [dispatch]);
  return (    <div className="container">      <WhoIsHere />      <input        className="input"        type="text"        placeholder="What needs to be done?"        value={draft}        onChange={(e) => dispatch(setDraft(e.target.value))}        onKeyDown={(e) => {          if (e.key === "Enter") {            dispatch(addTodo());          }        }}      ></input>      <SomeoneIsTyping />      {todos.map((todo, index) => {        return (          <div className="todo_container" key={index}>            <div className="todo">{todo.text}</div>            <button              className="delete_button"              onClick={() => dispatch(deleteTodo(index))}            >              ✕            </button>          </div>        );      })}    </div>  );}

Voilà! We have a working collaborative to-do list, with persistent data storage.

Summary

In this tutorial, we’ve learnt about the concept of rooms, presence, and others. We've also learnt how to put all these into practice, and how to persist state using storage too.

You can see some stats about the room you created in your dashboard.

How to create a collaborative to-do list with React, Redux, and Liveblocks

Install Liveblocks into your project

Install Liveblocks packages

Connect to Liveblocks servers

Connect to a Liveblocks room

Show who’s currently in the room

Show if someone is typing

Sync and persist to-dos

Summary

Next steps

How to add users to Liveblocks Text Editor

How to add users to Liveblocks presence components

How to create a collaborative to-do list with React, Redux, and Liveblocks

Related guides

How to add users to Liveblocks Text Editor

How to add users to Liveblocks presence components